Malcolm Noonan (Carlow-Kilkenny, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

I agree wholeheartedly with the Senator. I was instrumental in bringing the town centre first policy into the programme for Government. Critically, as I look across the country and travel, I see many fantastic premises such as 19th and early 20th century buildings that could be brought back into productive use. This is why the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage introduced an easing of planning restrictions regarding above-shop premises and the renovation of pubs for living. A lot is happening. You can see really good examples in towns across the country but it is not happening at the scale that is required to provide the capacity to those towns and villages to grow. The water and wastewater infrastructure is a critically important part of it. This is where is investment in the small town and villages growth programme through Uisce Éireann. The Government is frontloading significant funding to Uisce Éireann.

Separately, we need to use innovation. With the Heritage Council, I will bring in more architectural officers in every local authority. This is hugely important because these buildings need to be brought back into use using heritage and regeneration. We need to respect the heritage of the towns they are in. There is significant potential in existing stock in our towns and villages and we want to see that realised.